11 things you didn't know about Steve McQueen

More than half a century after Steve McQueen first arrived on the silver screen, and nearly 30 years after his death, the King of Cool's style is as popular as ever. Rugged and self-assured, McQueen was a lovable rogue whose passion for motor racing is put under the spotlight in new documentary Steve McQueen: The Man and Le Mans. GQ spoke to McQueen's son, and former racing driver, Chad, to find out more about McQueen the man.

He was relaxed about his style

Steve McQueen's bad boy image goes perfectly with his sense of style. He barely deliberated over the clothes he wore and still wound up a fashion icon. His son Chad McQueen said, “He would just get dressed in a quick second and always look great. I never saw him once get out of something to get into something else ... He would always say: ‘Just make sure you’re clean son. Just make sure everything’s clean’”.

Steve McQueen would bring home animals from the bar

“He’s got such an image as a hard ass, but if you saw him with stray dogs and stuff – he was a really sensitive man. He’d come home from a bar with a little puppy that somebody had, that’d be our new dog.”

Steve McQueen owned one of 16 rare Jaguars that burned in a fire

McQueen owned a Mini Cooper, a car his son describes as "hot" but his favourite car was the Jaguar XKSS. Chad McQueen said, "It was one of 16 made. In 1956 the Jaguar factory caught on fire, and burned all the moulds and the chassis. Those were derived from the G-type Jaguars which became uncompetitive. They put bumpers on them. My dad had one.”

He personally chose the Bullitt Mustang

When asked about the iconic Mustang in Bullitt, Chad said, “The Mustang was all him, and what was brilliant about it was that he had to find something that was sporty, that a detective would drive, so I think he hit that right on the head. He had top engineers and racing guys at the time setting the cars up ... if you go back to Thomas Crowne he had a say – that dune buggy was all his creation, the motorcycle in The Great Escape? Yeah, he came up with that.“

Steve McQueen was obsessed with motor racing

“He had his hands on the pulse of every kind of racing in Europe or America, he knew everything and was friends with pretty much everybody from Lotus to Ferrari, to Porsche ... Back then there wasn’t a whole lot of coverage, but he was subscribed to every European magazine we could get our hands on. Obviously TV viewing was very rare, putting on Monaco once a year and the Indy 500 but that was about it.”

He didn’t let his children watch his every race

McQueen's children were present for the vast majority of races that he participated in, but he drew the line at a 12 hour race in Sebring, Florida, in 1970. “Me and my sister didn’t go to Sebring. We were at the race at Phoenix two weeks before and then another race a week or two before that, but I asked my dad why he didn’t take me to Sebring and he said if something happened or he got hurt he didn’t want me to be there.”

McQueen encouraged his son to drive and race bikes in his youth

“He had me racing motorcycles when I was very very young, and I was driving way before I was legal to do so. He drove with me once and said I scared the shit out of him and never drove with me again. I think I was 15.”

He thought James Garner copied his car choices

Le Mans briefly explores a Hollywood rivalry between McQueen and actor James Garner. McQueen apparently felt that his fellow star copied his car choices. “Whatever my dad would get, James would go and get, and I think that got under his skin a little. My dad went out and got a Mini Cooper, he turned up with a new one...“

He was an expert mechanic

“He could fix pretty much everything, in fact he was in the motor pool in the Marines, so he was very adept with a crescent wrench and a wooden box wrench.”

Steve McQueen had an enormous collection of cars, bikes, and planes

It comes as no surprise that a man who made his name driving an iconic Mustang in Bullitt and thatmotorcycle scene in The Great Escape had a few toys in the garage. His collection topped 100 vehicles and would impress even the most passionate petrolhead. “When my dad passed away he had 38 cars and about 140 motorcycles, not to mention he had a few planes too – World War Two vintage biplanes that he liked. I know he was fond of Porsche. One day he’d be driving a Porsche and the next day we’re in a 1953 Chevvy truck. He had different tastes.”

He never watched his own films

“My dad was never the kind of guy to talk about himself, he never once said I like this performance, in fact if we were ever watching TV and one of his movies came on, he wouldn’t watch it, he’d turn it.“